6 Arrested for Wearing Hats, Cussing At Flint Water Meeting

FLINT, MI — Six people were arrested Thursday in Flint in a disturbance that erupted after police stopped men who hadn’t removed their hats and denied their entrance to a church sanctuary where a town hall meeting on whether the city should begin drawing water again from the Flint River, a move three years ago that resulted in dangerously high levels of lead in the city drinking water supply, or continue getting it from Detroit. Some people who were “cussing in the church” during the emotionally raw town hall meeting were also escorted out of the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church by police, according to media reports.

The police actions angered many in the crowd of about 100 people who argued that when the church opened its doors for government purposes, traditional decorum shouldn’t apply. At the onset of the meeting, Flint Police Chief Tim Johnson asked the men to remove their hats and warned that anyone who was disruptive would be removed.

“I just want to make sure this meeting goes off the way it’s supposed to and that everybody’s respecting everyone,” Johnson said. “Please don't be in here trying to disrupt this meeting, because if you do I’m going to escort you out and I’m only going to take you to the back door and then you’re going to jail. I’m not going to play with nobody tonight.”

Jordan Chariton, a political journalist for MediaLite, posted videos on Twitter showing some of the arrests.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has recommended that the city enter into a 30-year agreement to get pre-treated water from the Great Lakes Water Authority, which supplies Detroit and surrounding suburbs. The public has until May 20 to comment on the plan.

As a cost-cutting move while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014, Flint switched its water from what was at the time the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to a local plant that drew water from the Flint River. The corrosive properties in the water weren’t properly treated, leading to a raft of criminal charges. The failure to treat the water properly caused lead to leach from the iron pipes, and residents complained for months about the cloudy, particle-filled tap water that many simply referred to as “poop water.”

Their complaints weren’t addressed for nearly two years. A researcher from the Virginia Tech University said in September 2015 that lead was leaching into the city’s water, but the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality pushed back. Later that month, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center confirmed confirmed in a study that the proportion of children with above-average levels of lead in their blood had nearly doubled since the city began getting its water from the Flint River.

But officials continued to ignore what has become internationally known as the Flint water crisis. Gov. Rick Snyder said in a news release in October 2015 that though the water was safe to drink, residents with lead plumbing fixtures might have higher levels of lead in their tap water.

It wasn’t until December 2015 that Weaver declared a state of emergency in Flint. Genesee county commissioners and the state of Michigan followed suit in January 2016. Later that month, President Obama signed an emergency declaration for the city and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette opened a criminal investigation and so far has brought charges against 13 people, including the two emergency managers and two former Flint city employees who oversaw the switch to the Flint River.

The crisis has also been linked to 12 Legionnaire’s disease deaths since 2014. More than 100 others have been sickened.

Flint residents attending Thursday’s meeting said history gives them little reason to trust government officials now, and they hammered away at Weaver and other city, state and federal officials about levels of bacteria in the water, long-term health consequences for those exposed to lead and financial support for those poisoned by lead.

Journalist Roberto Acosta posted a video of the meeting on Facebook.

Image: Work continues on the water replacement lines in Flint and must be completed by 2020 under an agreement reached Monday. (AP Photo/Chris Ehrmann)